Godolphin by Ben Glaetzer Barossa Valley 2005

The inaugural release of Ben Glaetzer’s Godolphin Shiraz Cabernet, the 2004 vintage, received rave reviews from the world’s wine press with US critic Robert Parker describing it as “the stuff of legends….. the apogee of Ben Glaetzer’s winemaking talents”, scoring it 96-98 points.

UK wine writer Mathew Dukes was equally impressed writing “This is the earth shatteringly brilliant younger brother to Amon-Ra, and it's a hedonistic Shiraz/Cabernet blend. Where Amon-Ra is, admittedly, totally over the top, Godolphin is near perfection.”

The 2005 Godolphin is a superb follow up to the outstanding 2004. In 2005 vintage conditions were exceptional with the Barossa experiencing one of the mildest growing seasons on record. This enabled the Glaetzer’s to leave the fruit on the vine until early April which resulted in wines with intense colours and ripe tannin.

The 2005 Godolphin is a blend of 80% Shiraz and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from old vine vineyards (between 60-85 years old) located in the Northern Ebenezer region of the Barossa Valley. The fruit was sourced from low yielding vines (1-2 tonnes per acre) and the wine was matured for 14 months in 100% new oak of which 20% is American and 80% French.

Opaque black purple colour with black purple hue. Aroma of blackcurrant, violet, cedar, liquorice and spice – a superb sniff. The palate is mouth filling, with excellent length and delivers multi-layers of flavours, superbly meshed. Blackcurrant, cassis and cedar are overlaid with ripe plum, spicy white pepper and confectionary. Fine grained tannins, perfect balance. Very long aftertaste of spice and white pepper.